N-Reactor
The N-Reactor was a water/graphite-moderated nuclear reactor constructed during the Cold War and operated by the U.S. government at the Hanford Site in Washington; it began production in 1963.
It was a one-of-a-kind design in the U.S., being both a plutonium production reactor for nuclear weapons and, from 1966, producing electricity to feed the civilian power grid via the Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS).[1]
In an improvement on the earlier Hanford reactors, N-Reactor was built with a confinement building (although not a containment building). In the event of an accidental release of steam, air and steam would vent through filters that confined any radioactive particles present.[2] It was partially moderated with graphite, but had a negative void coefficient due to also using moderation from the coolant water, meaning it was thermally stable.[3]
The reactor was shut down in 1987 and placed on cold standby in 1988, with "final disposition" beginning in 1994.
See also
References
- ↑ HANFORD SITE: PROCESSES AND FACILITIES HISTORY, Section 2.2 N Reactor Operations Michele Gerber PhD, June 1996
- ↑ US Department of State Bulletin, "Soviet nuclear reactor accident at Chernobyl"
- ↑ [David Bodansky, Nuclear Energy Principles, Practices, and Prospects, 2004]
External links
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
<templatestyles src="Asbox/styles.css"></templatestyles>
 |
This article about nuclear power and nuclear reactors for power generation is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
